A Flame's Dance
by kittikat8531
Summary: Before Sailor Mars, Rei needed to get away for a bit. She goes to a club and runs into a face she didn't expect to see. And later she tells him about it. Rei/Jadeite, please R&R.


There are words unsaid. Lies unspoken, secrets that were never meant to be revealed. Truths that could not see the light of day.

She had been fighting for most of her life. Not as a Senshi- that first day she transformed to the sacred Sailor Mars was his end. But they had met before, even if he no longer remembered.

Hino Rei knew evil. She had seen it from a young age, stalking those that would never realize it was there until it was too late. When she began to train as a priestess at her grandfather's temple, she learned what she could do about it.

Not at first, of course. It took several years before her power had been honed enough to use, enough to combat evil and win. She sealed demons and laid protections, saving those that couldn't save themselves. Because she was a servant of gods, and she was one of the few that were strong enough to do so. Her youth didn't matter.

Even good girls have their bad times.

Rei was stressed from everything she had done, everything she had seen. And she was apprehensive. The fire was warning her of something, but the only image it ever gave was of the face she had known all of her life. _His_ face. The face that had haunted her dreams for as long as she could remember, the face that floated through her mind whenever her discipline slipped.

So she snuck out. It wasn't hard when her grandfather tended to sleep like the dead. With makeup, a nice dress and a change of hairstyle, Rei was more than able to pass for twenty. The bouncer at the club she went to knew her, but he realized she wouldn't touch the alcohol and could take care of herself. She was there to dance.

He waved her in and watched as she insinuated herself into the mob on the dance floor. Rei lost herself in the rhythm, not noticing her partners or anything else as she let loose and displayed the passion and free movement of her element.

Because Rei knew.

She knew about Sailor Mars, even then. Or suspected it, though deep in her bones she had known it was true. Despite her first transformation still being months away, she knew it was coming as surely as she knew that the touch of fire burned. If you weren't her. For her fire was as tame as a kitten and would never rise against her as it would anyone else. And it held truth.

There was nothing dishonest in fire. It was dangerous, yes. And it was beautiful. It did not hide or trick. Fire simply was, fire just burned. Fire would consume anything foolish enough to cross its path.

Rei was tired of knowing without being able to do anything. And that was what drove her to dance in her favorite club. It released the frustration she had no other ways to vent. It let her go on as if everything was normal.

"What's a pretty thing like you doing in a dangerous place like this, little warrior?"

She whipped around, reaching for one of her charms. And stopped.

It was the face of her dreams. Short, tousled blond curls framed sculpted and very faintly tanned features. Blue eyes seemed to laugh boyishly while still filled with an intelligent light.

Then she realized what he was.

The corrupt air of him was like a fist to the gut. Even in all the years she had Seen him… She had never thought he would be something like this. She had never thought he would be evil. And that was the warning her fire had been trying to give.

Rei reached for a charm again, but he caught her wrist. "Not here, firebrand. Unless you want some of these poor humans to be hurt." 

"Who are you, and what are you doing to them?" 

"Nothing… much. Just getting a little energy. They won't miss it."

"_Who are you?_"

"Settle down. It wouldn't do to draw attention. You're the little warrior girl, aren't you? The one that seals demons and lesser evils. Not bad, but you have the potential for so much more."

"I'm not going to repeat myself again."

"My name is Jadeite. Yours?"

He had twisted her back into dancing, and she cooperated only because it was safer than letting him go near any of the other women in the club. Women that wouldn't know him for what he was and would be used to further his goals, whatever they were.

"None of your business. You know too much about me already."

His smile was handsome and sinister at the same time. "You have spirit. It's nice to see not everyone is a sheep."

"And you're the wolf?" 

Jadeite bared his teeth. "Aren't all men?" 

"Some more than others. Get out of here before you hurt someone."

He laughed. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't. What's in it for me?"

Rei knew better than to make bargains with evil, but she also understood the risk he posed to everyone in the room and beyond. "What would it take?"

He leaned in, so close that he could have kissed her. Her breath caught in her throat. He had to be at least four years older than her meager fourteen. And he was the most handsome thing she had ever seen despite the fear his aura caused.

"A promise," he whispered, lips a centimeter from hers. "That I'll be able to come back for you when you're ready."

"Why should I give myself up like that? You'll only go elsewhere to get what you're after here. That's a lot of sacrifice from me for something that's no trouble at all for you."

"If you want, I could just take what I'm after now." 

"You wouldn't dare." Her grip on his shoulder tightened. "Leave those people alone. They haven't done anything to you."

"It's your choice."

"I hate you."

Jadeite shrugged. "I'm waiting."

Rei's eyes closed. "Fine. I promise you can come back when I'm ready." Which would be never. There wouldn't be a point that she would be prepared to deal with what he was. "And this place, these people. You'll leave them alone."

"Agreed."

"And I'll make one more promise. I'll destroy you before I let you stay this way."

"You can try," he laughed.

And he _did _kiss her. In that moment, she saw his beautiful blue eyes go blank as he died on a battlefield. A vision. Past or future, she didn't yet know.

He vanished before she could think of anything else.

88888888

"Rei? …Rei?"

"Hm?"

"Are you in there?"

"What? Oh! Jomei."

"Where did your mind go? You've been staring at that spot for ten minutes." 

"Spot?" Rei repeated, blinking. "Was I?"

"Yeah. You okay? Your devoted Yuuichiro is going to be back soon, so I figured you wouldn't want him to see you that way."

"What does he have to do with anything?" she demanded.

He lifted one perfect golden brow. "Touchy. Is something wrong? You're on edge all of a sudden." 

"Just… thinking of a promise I kept to someone important."

"Who?"

Rei flicked a few strands of her raven-colored hair aside and studied him. His blond curls and bright eyes, the sculpted features. He didn't look like he'd changed at all.

"Do you know Club Muse?"

"Vaguely. It's in the area, right?"

She nodded. "Never been there?" 

"No… Why? Want to go?"

"I've already gone, more than once. You have too."

Jomei frowned. "Rei, I'd never heard of the place till shortly after I moved here."

"Guess you don't remember."

"What's going on?"

"It's nothing."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Was I drunk or something? Did I offend you? I know I can get pretty weird when I've been drinking. If I upset you, I'm sorry." 

"It's not that."

Jomei caught on a moment later and blanched, glancing at the temple steps to make sure Yuuichiro and her grandfather weren't back yet. "You mean… then? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, you didn't hurt me. It's not that big a deal."

"It must've been if you're thinking about it more than a year later. What happened?"

"You don't remember?"

"I guess not. I thought I hadn't forgotten anything, but apparently I was wrong. Happens to the best of us." He managed a bright smile, but it seemed forced at the edges. "Even me, and I'm the best of all."

"Jomei."

He sighed. "So what did I do?" 

She headed over to a tree and sat down, waiting till he joined her and went through his little ritual of forcing her to sit in his lap. He tensed when she didn't argue about it like she normally would.

"Rei, tell me I didn't do anything."

The priestess leaned back against him. "This was a few months before I became Mars. I was barely fourteen, but with a little work I could pass for an adult. I needed to get away for a while, so I snuck out and went to Muse. I wanted to dance."

"And I was there."

She nodded. "It was a shock. I already told you I knew you before we ever actually crossed paths, so I recognized you right off the bat. That was the first time I realized what you were. Your aura was… frightening. The strongest evil I'd seen yet. And you seemed to know me."

"How?"

"I'm not sure, but you called me little warrior. I don't think you meant Mars. I had been doing some minor work against demons, so I assume that's what it was. I'm not sure how you knew about it.

"I ordered you away. Told you not to hurt the people there. You said maybe, but what was in it for you. I didn't want to bargain, but I couldn't fight you and there was no way I was going to let you hurt anyone when there was something I could do about it." 

"What did I ask for?"

"It's not important. I agreed, but I followed it up with one more thing. I swore I would destroy you. You laughed, kissed me and left. The next time I saw you… I did destroy you. I kept my promise."

"I'm glad you did."

She shifted to face him. "We never discussed your past. Not really, except to acknowledge it existed. That's the first time you've said anything about it."

"There's not a whole lot to say. You know what I was and what I did. Since you're not bringing it up, I don't either. The past can stay where it is. I won't worry about it like the others do."

"Happy-go-lucky."

"Does it matter?"

"No, I guess not. We should finish our chores. Jii-chan will be back soon."

He nodded and let her up before leading the way back to the shrine proper. She hung back a little, watching as he did.

"Guess I managed to keep both promises."


End file.
